Do your conversations with your daughter ever seem like a litany of corrections and instructions? Perhaps they sound like this: “Did you brush your teeth?” Please don’t provoke your brother!” “Your softball uniform is on the dryer.”

With school, sports, recitals, holidays, and church programs- in our case, for five children- life can easily spin out of control. Survival became our goal because everyone in the family was moving so fast. Communication became utilitarian, and relationships were...